Jersey
City Loew's Jersey Theater52-54 Journal Square

Loew's
Jersey Theater
Photo: C. Karnoutsos 2004

Drawing
(1999) of Loew's Jersey Theater
Artist, Richard LaRovere

Known as one of the
five "Loew's wonder theaters," the Loew's Jersey Theater was
designed by George and C.W. Rapp for theater chain owner Marcus Loew,
one of the founders of MGM Studios. That description referred to the installation
of a Robert Morton Wonder Organ in the theater, also placed in Loew's
other cinemas in Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan. Loew is frequently
quoted as saying, "I don't sell tickets to movies . . . I sell tickets
to theaters" (qtd. in Deering). He was also the founder of MGM Studios.
The lavishly decorated Jersey City theater cost over $2 million and opened
on September 28, 1929, a month prior to the stock market crash.

The Loew's theater
is constructed in Baroque style, with terra cotta façade and "French
curve" marquee, and overlooks Journal Square. On top of the building
is a clock tower with a Seth Thomas clockwork mechanism. It has a mechanical
life-size statue of St. George on horseback that slays the dragon at fifteen-minute
intervals, marked by the tolling of bells. In the evening, a red bulb
in the dragon's mouth adds to the drama of the event. The figures are
copper and bronze set within a terra cotta cupola that frames the statues.
As part of the theater's renovation, the clock was removed in 1999 and
repaired by David Morgan at the Antique Clock Gallery in Lebanon, NJ;
it was reinstalled in 2001. The clock tower has also been restored.

The theater's three-story
oval lobby is heightened by a rotunda sustained by faux marble columns
and gilded arches. A crystal chandelier, an antique French Buhl clock
in the foyer, gold leaf mirrors and red carpeting were part of the décor
that created an other world atmosphere after one entered the bronze doors.
Two curving staircases leads to the second-floor landing and balcony adorned
with art and statuary.

The Spanish Baroque
style auditorium had over red-velvet 3,000 seats. From its domed ceiling
hung a ten-tier chandelier. The proscenium stage is a generous 72 feet
long and 33 feet wide. The acoustical construction of the plaster walls
was the first of its kind to complement the "talkie" films.
Here theatergoers saw stage shows as well as first-run movies. On opening
day, there was a stage show with various acts, a performance by Ted Meyn
on the Wonder organ, and the showing of the film Madam X, starring
Ruth Chatterton. Vaudeville performers such as Bing Crosby, George Burns
and Gracie Allen, Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, Mickey Rooney, the Ritz
Brothers, and Milton Berle, among others, appeared on stage in the 1930s
and the 1940s; the Four Seasons, a Newark, NJ-based singing group, performed
in concert in 1968.

The Loew's was divided
into three viewing rooms in 1974 in an attempt to compete for attendance
with the development of suburban multiplex cinemas. The subdivision of
the theater was not successful and caused the loss of much of its early
décor. The theater closed on August 21, 1986. Hartz Mountain Industries
bought the property for redevelopment. As a result of community reaction
to the potential demolition of the theater, the City of Jersey City bought
the building in 1993 for $325,000 with the intention of restoring it as
a nonprofit arts and entertainment center.

Supporters who favored
saving the theater formed the Friends of the Loew's. Its volunteers, numbering
approximately 200, with the Jersey City Economic Redevelopment Corporation
set to work to bring the theater back to its former glory as part of the
revitalization of Journal Square. The theater has received $2.5 million
in grants from organizations like the New Jersey Historic Trust. Work
on the interior, starting with tearing down the dividing walls, restoring
the seating, painting and cleaning, is on going.

Today the Loew's Jersey
Theater has been renovated sufficiently to present classic movies, film
festivals, live performances, and cultural public events for the community.

References:

Deering, Sally. "Waking a Sleeping Giant," Gold Coast,
July 19-July 26, 1991.
Friends of the Loew's Website http://www.loewsjersey.org
"Now Playing: A Grand Movie House Restored." New York Times
8 November 1998.
"St. George and Dragon to Fight Again." New York Times
27 May 2001.